He's plugged into electric cars

Woodridge — Few people in the region know as much about electric cars as Joe Conway — he has sold them for years — and few are as wary of their dazzling future.

BY JOHN SULLIVAN

Woodridge — Few people in the region know as much about electric cars as Joe Conway — he has sold them for years — and few are as wary of their dazzling future.

Decades of false starts in the industry, failures of government subsidies, and misunderstanding about consumer demand have left even electric-vehicle enthusiasts like Conway doubtful that the latest buzz about the cars will bring about the end of the internal combustion engine.

But electric cars will come. President Barack Obama vows a fight against carbon emissions; and billions of government dollars in research, development and subsidies spur new levels of innovation.

One of the first signs that the tide is changing in the Hudson Valley involves Conway himself, who just began teaching the region's first college electric-vehicle course at Sullivan County Community College.

"This (the course) says that colleges are actively looking to teach this technology, and that electric vehicles are being perceived as something coming," said Conway, owner of Buzz Equipment Co. in Woodridge.

The five-week class, which meets Thursday evenings, consist of two parts — a historical overview of the industry and a hands-on practical class in which students get to convert an internal combustion engine into an electric engine.

Conway's first cadre of students consists mostly of mechanics from Rolling V Transportation Services in South Fallsburg. The bus and car-service company offered to pay for 16 of its mechanics to take the $150-per-person course, said fleet manager Ken Engle.

"Going green is the future of a lot of vehicles," Engle said. "To get on board now is the smart way to do it."

Even cautious investors such as Warren Buffett, one of the world's wealthiest men, are jumping onto the electric-vehicle bandwagon.

Yet, the first line of electric vehicles won't likely cost less than $40,000, making them unaffordable for the larger market.

The cost will likely decline with advances in battery technology, but the industry also has to grapple with an inefficient electricity delivery system.

Government commitment to the change, and the potential for higher gas prices, will likely be deciding factors in a historic change, Conway said.

"It's going to be similar to the time when cars were first manufactured," he said.